Telecommuting. It's the green way to go to work. We're doing it right now — how virtuous is that? But there are other situations that involve travel-related resource consumption that really shouldn't have to, for example when universities fly in distinguished speakers or an industry gathers together for an awards show. In those cases it may make sense to forgo the webcam and invest instead in on a way to make the audience really feel like the speaker's in the room.

That's the point of the DVE Telepresence Stage, a setup that lets you project a guest, professor or CEO in 3D in front of an audience. It's a dual projector system where the result resembles a Star Wars-style Princess Leia hologram, with the added advantage that the speaker can move freely around the "stage area."

Even if it's not 100% realistic, it's sure to impress. And if you don't want to splurge on a whole Stage system, DVE also makes a Telepresence Podium, for when you only really want to see half of your speaker's body anyway. The systems aren't cheap, but then again, neither are first class plane tickets.

DVE Telepresence, via Core 77